I
stand before the books as I might stand
beneath the night sky. They’re in stacks and stacks
of self-contained infinities demand-
ing exploration. I have neither maps
nor ladders to pursue these stars,
these books that burn within themselves. That’s when
he comes and shows me where to start,
a blind librarian with a lantern and
a hand that takes my own. He knows the books
for me, he knows exactly where they are.
When he points, I at last know where to look.
The deep night sky he navigates by heart,
and as he shows them to me, one by one
I find those far stars opening into suns.

[AMIT
MAJMUDAR is a resident M.D. training in Diagnostic Radiology in Cleveland,
Ohio. His poetry has been published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, Journal of the Medical Humanities,
and The Plain Dealer.]